The genre is only dying, because the industry is FORCING it to die, by making innacurate assumptions. If someone were to release a AAA turn-based epic RPG for PS4, I guarantee it would sell just as well as other AAA games. Just about ANY GENRE can be AAA, and sell well.

It doesn't have to be AAA. I don't think we'll see a lot of AAA turn based RPGs in the next generation. I think it depends more on the indies to revitalize that genre. I've no doubt that we'll see some amazing turn based RPGs form indie devs next gen.

I wish there were more of them.. It may seem like an ancient method of playing an RPG but i liked it.. Maybe its up to the indie devs to keep it alive.. After FFX, square started messing around with ATB & it worked well with 12 but thats where it ends.. I hope theres more traditional turn based RPGs to come nx gen.. The tales series has a nice combat system to keep jrpgs going for now.. Not necessarily turn based but still classic

You liked FFXIIs battle system more than FFXIII? I know I'm in the minority of liking FFXIII but to me FFXII was by far the worst FF I've ever played. It felt like an MMO. The story was confusing and boring and it just didn't felt like a Final Fantasy game to me. No disrespect to people that enjoyed FFXII but I just didn't like it at all.

What if we look only at the turn-based game mechanics and ignore the rest of the game?

The way I see it, turn-based RPG combat has really only been perfected three times.

1.) Dragon Quest. This is the simplest form of turn-based combat, and DQ excels by giving the combat system a lot of depth, and also making it very fast and snappy (usually). Dragon Quest IX probably represents the best of the lot, as it presents that fast, snappy combat (usually best handled with sprites) with customization 3D models.

2.) Final Fantasy XII. Real-time turn based combat has been tried a lot. Remember Baldur's Gate? Fallout? Those were turn-based systems that could be played in real time. And, I might add, some of the other examples. Most real-time-turn-based systems simply did not turn out well at all. FFXII managed to present the traditional Final Fantasy (or, really, traditional Dragon Quest) turn-based mechanics so well that to this day many gamers STILL think it was a fully real-time system. It was fast, dynamic, and open, and IMHO represents the absolute pinnacle of turn-based combat.

3.) A game I've never heard anyone else talk about: Arc the Lad Twilight of the Spirits. Tactical combat has been done to death in JRPGs. To goddamn death. Often, it's used as filler to obfuscate a lack of content with the rest of the game. And, almost always, SRPGs rely on the same tired grid-based gamplay--which limits not only the mechanics of the combat system, but also hampers the art design. Every once in a while, we'll see a Wild Arms or something that changes things up by using a hexagonal grid.

But a grid is still a grid.

Twilight of the Spirits did away with grids entirely. Each "battle" was just a normal part of the overworld. Everything was very natural. Each character could move in a circular area, that would expand or contract in certain areas depending on terrain; attacks had "width" so positioning was always important--even with basic attacks. And then there were all kinds of abilities. I've never played an SRPG system that felt as natural and seamless and well-integrated with the rest of the game as TotS.

Exactly. Not sure why I didn't ask about Xenogears which is the best JRPG along with Chrono Cross and FF7. Love Xenosaga a lot too. I wish Tetsuya Takahashi would personally direct the 6th and final chapter of Xenogears. Xenogears was Episode 5 out of 6 which many people don't know about. I don't care how he does it but he needs to obtain the rights to the Xenogears franchise back from square somehow.